Local stone business offers new retaining wall option

Russell Means, of Means Stone, spreads river gravel in front of the new entrance to Fox Chase.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Doty is so excited about the new look he's bringing to town he's bringing it to the entrance of his Fox Chase neighborhood in Kanawha City.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Doty is so excited about the new look he's bringing to town he's bringing it to the entrance of his Fox Chase neighborhood in Kanawha City.

Doty, owner and operator of Peerless Block and Brick in St. Albans, installs retaining walls throughout West Virginia. His company now manufactures a more natural-looking retaining wall made of cast concrete in St. Albans called Rosetta.

"It's different than any other retaining wall system out there," Doty said. "It's just a different look than cut stone."

Compared to traditional retaining walls that travelers would see along a highway holding rocks back, Rosetta is about two to three times more expensive per square foot but has a lower installation cost, Doty said.

After a vehicle accident destroyed part of the Fox Chase entrance, Doty and his wife said they thought a Rosetta welcome sign would be a good fit.

"Since this is our first [outcropping] wall, it may take a little while longer; they're still learning," Doty added. "I'm excited to see what it looks like when we get the whole thing done."

Russell Means, a stonemason for nearly 25 years, assembles Rosetta walls for Peerless. The hardest part for him is setting a solid foundation, he said. Each stone must be level and at just the right angle to greet drivers entering Fox Chase. But each Rosetta product comes with a piece-by-piece layout, he said.

"Everything is laid out for you; it's just like putting a puzzle together," Means said. "Once you get started with it, you can just kind of run with it."

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Local stone business offers new retaining wall option